The present disclosure relates to creating shadow effects for objects in a two-dimensional (2D) imaging space.
In computer graphics, a drop shadow is a visual effect that gives the perception of a three-dimensional (3D) background in a 2D imaging space. The drop shadow achieves this by drawing what looks like the shadow of an object, thereby giving the impression that the object is raised above the background. In general, a drop shadow is a grayscale copy of the object, drawn in a slightly different position. For example, a drop shadow for a simple rectangular object can be created by drawing a grayscale replica of the object, skewed and offset from the object.
In current applications, the shadow effect for a source object is a replica of the source object that is typically represented in grayscale to make the replica look like a shadow. Shadows are normally drawn as if they fall on a 2D background with a single source of light at some imaginary fixed point. In order to create a realistic shadow effect, the user may need to make replicas of shadows, transform the shadows to suit the topography of the background, clip the relevant portions of a shadow, and blend or group all of the clipped replicas to simulate a 3D shadow effect.